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Zealot (Build)
A Zealot '''or '''Zealadin is a Paladin build that uses, as the name suggests, Zeal as his main attack. This is usually accompanied by Fanaticism, which boosts damage and attack speed. Zealots are very good at Player vs Monster gameplay, but are poor at Player vs Player fighting. Skills Primary skills *Zeal - 20 *Fanaticism - 20 *Holy Shield - 20 Zeal is the Zealot's main attack. The Zealot relies on a powerful, high damage melee weapon and then maximizes his output with Zeal's high attack speed bonus. Fanaticism is the most common aura used in this build. The increased attack speed is crucial for Zealots, so that they can finish their attack quickly in case they start dying during their attacks. Of course, it also increases the rate that Zealots and their parties can do damage. Holy Shield is used mainly because Zeal is best with fast one-hand weapons, which makes it natural to use a shield in combination. With Holy Shield, the Paladin's block rating is boosted considerably. Not all Zealot builds max Holy Shield, as the defense and block boosts are already very substantial at level 4 or 5 if coupled with good gear and skill boosting equipment. Zeal can be used with the faster 2-handed weapons as well, but this is not recommended. In this case, Holy Shield is nearly useless, and the build becomes incredibly offensive-oriented. Although it is risky (the Paladin will take a lot of damage) and the only gain of this version is higher damage output, the two-handed Zealot can survive because Zeal cannot be interrupted, and even a fairly low amount of Life Steal will be sufficient to restore the Paladin's hitpoints rapidly. Synergy skills *Sacrifice - 20 *Defiance - 20 Zeal receives a 12% synergy damage bonus from each level spent in Sacrifice. In addition, in the early levels Sacrifice is a decent skill to have, dealing high damage at a relatively low cost. Defiance is a synergy for Holy Shield. It is not required to max Defiance, since Paladins often have a very high defense rating anyway, but any spare points may be placed here. Utility skills Resist Fire, Cold, and Lightning all passively increase the Paladin's max resistance through synergies. Redemption is a useful aura to have, both for mana and health regeneration, and to prevent monster resurrection. Vigor is useful for trekking through large areas or for corpse retrieval. Meditation is useful for party play among mana-starved allies, while Salvation is useful for allies with less magic resist. Equipment For any viable Hell Difficulty Zealot, there are three attributes which are considered almost necessary for a melee character to finish the game: Some amount of Crushing Blow, Cannot Be Frozen and stacking resistances. Once these attributes are built to a proper level, the player can then work on some of the other attributes that will help make his Zealot more effective. Some (but not all) of these things would be Life/Mana Leech, Increased Attack Speed, Faster Hit Recovery, Increased Block and Faster Block Rate. The list below has many items a player may never see or be able to manufacture. In this case, it will not hurt to look over the more inexpensive items to obtain the attributes to make the character durable enough to finish the game. Weapons 1-handed *Grief: High damage, and one of the few items that transfers damage when using Smite. Often socketed in a Phase Blade due to the -30 Base Attack Speed, and the character's Dexterity is usually over 120 to maximize block percentage. *Breath of the Dying: Lower average damage than Grief, but has lower requirements, is indestructible, has higher IAS (Increased Attack Speed), dual leech and a massive boost to all stats. *Stormlash or Crescent Moon: Static Field procs are similar to Crushing Blow, except much faster, although ineffective past 50% health and more commonly resisted. *Death: Similar to Breath of the Dying, but with excellent Crushing Blow and Deadly Strike at the cost of less damage. Procs Glacial Spike to freeze multiple targets at once, but has no IAS. *Last Wish: Life Tap proc, Might Aura', '''Chance to cast fade', '''and the huge Crushing Blow chance. Preferred in a Berserker axe. 2-handed *The Grandfather or Doombringer: These have great Attack Rating bonuses in addition to hefty damage. *Ethereal Edge: Fast and plenty of damage bonuses. *Hellslayer or Messerschmidt's Reaver: These have increasing damage bonuses based on level which look obscene at high levels. *The Cranium Basher: Huge Crushing Blow percentage, resistances and an Amplify Damage proc. *Breath of the Dying: Preferably made in an Ethereal great poleaxe, colossus sword or champion axe. *Death: Preferably made in an ethereal colossus sword or cryptic axe. Shield *Herald of Zakarum: Blocking related bonuses, resistances, and skill bonuses. *Exile Rune Word: Life Tap proc, aura skill bonus and the innate Defiance aura. Best made in an Ethereal Vortex Shield, since it also has a self-repair attribute. *Stormshield: 35% physical damage reduction is a big perk of this shield. Helm *Guillaume's Face: Deadly Strike and Crushing Blow *Crown of Ages: Resistance bonuses, physical damage reduction and sockets for further customization. *Andariel's Visage +2 skill bonus, poison resistances and life leech. Keep in mind it does feature a fire resistance penalty. Armor *Leviathan: Physical damage reduction. *Arkaine's Valor: faster hit recovery, 1-2 point bonus to all skills and level dependent Vitality bonus. *Fortitude: 300% Enhanced Damage is the big perk for this armor. *Chains of Honor: A number of damage bonuses and a +65 bonus to all resistances. *Enigma: Teleport is a big bonus to this armor, as well as the Magic Find bonus and the +2 to all skills. Belt *Verdungo's Hearty Cord: The cookie cutter suggestion, due to its percent physical damage reduction and life-related bonuses. *Nosferatu's Coil or Arachnid Mesh: Both of these belts feature slowing their opponents. Arachnid Mesh has a +1 all skills bonus, while Nosferatu's features life leech. *Thundergod's Vigor: Lightning Absorb, Strength and Vitality bonuses and a boost to maximum lightning resist. Gloves *Dracul's Grasp: Life Tap proc, Life Leech and Open Wounds. *Soul Drainers: Reduces monster defense per hit. Also has dual leech. *Steelrend: Crushing Blow and enhanced damage. Boots *Gore Rider: Boost to Crushing Blow, Open Wounds and Deadly Strike. Amulet *Highlord's Wrath: + skills and increased attack speed. *The Cat's Eye: increased attack speed. *Metalgrid: Attack rating bonus. *Mara's Kaleidoscope: Skill and resistance bonus. *The Eye of Etlich: Skill bonus, life leech and cold damage. Ring *Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band: Skill bonus and life-related bonuses. *Raven Frost: Cannot be Frozen is the main perk, but the attack rating bonus is also handy. Hireling Although many players just solo with Zealots, Hirelings can certainly increase the survivability of any character if maintained properly. Typically, most choose the Act 2 Defensive Mercenary in Nightmare Difficulty (the "Holy Freeze Merc") or the Offensive version (the "Might Merc"), but the others have plenty of potential if geared properly. The Helmet and Armor are standard choices, the only thing that would vary are the weapons. Act 3 Hirelings with cold attacks used to be popular, but are rare now, due to many monsters being immune to their attacks. Although Barbarian Warriors are quite rugged, they can be overcome by large mobs. On the other hand, if properly equipped, he can definitely play a major factor in increasing the character's survivability. The Rogue Archers should not be counted out either, although without particular gear, her ability to assist in later stages of the game diminishes by quite a bit. Although the weapons vary, the armor and helmet choices are mostly stock, with some variation in regards to armor. Helmet *Guillaume's Face: Crushing Blow and Deadly Strike. *Tal Rasha's Horadric Crest: Mostly for the 10 percent life leech and +15 to Resistances. Vampire Gaze, Crown of Thieves and Stealskull are also popular choices for their ease of finding and life leech. *Kira's Guardian or Darksight Helm: The reason for choosing either helmet is the Cannot Be Frozen attribute. Armor *Fortitude Runeword: 300% Enhanced damage against everything. *Duress Runeword: Features 15% chance for Crushing Blow. *Gladiator's Bane: Cannot be Frozen, and flat damage reduction at a high level. *Hwanin's Refuge: Static Field proc. Still useful, even if lightning immunes aren't affected by it in Hell Difficulty. *Treachery: may be of more benefit to a Rogue for the Increased Attack Speed. *Skin of the Vipermagi. Iron Wolves can make better use of the Faster Cast Rate as they usually attack from range. *Duriel's Shell: For Hirelings, this armor is prized highy, mostly for being relatively easy to find, its Cannot be Frozen attribute and Vitality bonus. Weapon Rogue (Act 1) *Faith: The Fanaticism aura and obscene damage are the big perks of this bow. *Ice: The chief reason for this choice is the Holy Freeze Aura. *Witchwild String: Amplify Damage proc and two sockets to customize it with. *Riphook: Slows opponent and Open Wounds. Desert Mercenary (Act 2) *Hone Sundan: Crushing Blow and three sockets. *Obedience: Crushing Blow and an Enchant Proc. *Once could also add Breath of the Dying, Last Wish, Death or Doom, as these are all very powerful. They are also equally difficult to create. Another note is that if you have a Might Aura Mercenary, do not use Last Wish, as its inherent Might Aura would be redundant. *Reaper's Toll, Insight and Infinity are also good options, but only for other builds, as conviction is unnecessary, you have low mana demands, and Decrepify would override your Life Tap, if you have it. Iron Wolf (Act 3) *Spirit Sword and Spirit Shield: This combination will give the hireling excellent resistance bonuses, as well as a total +4 to their skill levels. *Lidless Wall: Has +1 to all skills and a Faster Cast Rate bonus. *Rhyme: Has Cannot Be Frozen and Faster Hit Recovery. Barbarians (Act 5) There are numerous swords that a Barbarian can use. Listing them all would be impractical. Here are some Unique Swords and Runewords particularly beneficial to a Barbarian Mercenary: *Bloodletter: Fast Attack Speed, and has life leech. The sword will likely be obsolete by early Hell, however. *Headstriker: Level dependent Deadly Strike, as well as level dependent maximum damage. *Azurewrath: The base damage is a bit low, but the added damage makes this blade frightening once it can be equipped. *The Grandfather: Very high damage and Attack Rating bonus. *Lawbringer: a relatively cheap runeword with a Decrepify proc. *Breath of the Dying, Grief, Death are also options, albeit difficult ones considering the runes required. Category:Paladin Builds